Beloved sportscaster Jamie Campbell 'sees life differently' following cancer diagnosis
Sportscaster Jamie Campbell has always been active. But he says he lives life with greater zest since being diagnosed with a common blood cancer in January 2021.
“It was a random blood test,” says the host of Toronto Blue Jays telecasts. “So truthfully, after I had gotten the blood test, I wasn’t expecting a phone call. And when that call came in, it revealed this diagnosis of CLL.”
Campbell said he knew about leukemia but had never heard of CLL, also known as chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
“It’s one of the most common forms of blood cancer that affects about 2,000 patients, newly diagnosed in Canada every year,” Dr. Christine Chen, a hematologist at Toronto’s Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, told CTV News Toronto.
While the majority of patients are diagnosed in their 60s and 70s, Chen notes she also has patients in their 20s.
CLL is highly treatable, and patients without symptoms do not require any treatment.
That’s how it was for Campbell in the first 14 months after diagnosis, until recently.
“My white blood cell count became alarmingly high and I had lymph nodes exploding out of my armpits and my neck, and my spleen had grown. And that was the indication that it was time to be treated,” he said.
Campbell was put on medications and six weeks ago, he started taking Brukinsa, a new drug recently approved by Health Canada.
While it isn’t a cure, the hope is that patients like Campbell can live full lives while taking this drug. By the time it’s no longer effective for them, a new medication will be available.
Campbell, now 56, says, if anything, his workout regimen has grown more intense since his diagnosis. His doctors have said maintaining his fitness is key and he’s eager to stay active while he can.
For Campbell, he says he sees his diagnosis as a blessing in disguise.
“As odd as that may sound, in my case it has, because I see life differently. I spend time with the people I love in a different manner” he said. “It’s almost like a light shines on them that I never got to enjoy prior to this diagnosis.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Trump confronts repeated boos during raucous Libertarian convention speech
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
This type of screen time has the worst effect on kids: experts
According to some experts, there is one type of screen time that is continuously excessive, and it's having a severe effect on our children.
Family of toddler found dead at small-town Ont. daycare no closer to answers after year of investigation
A year has passed since two-year-old Vienna Irwin was found on the property of a home-based daycare in small-town Ontario, but her family says they are no closer to answers of what happened that day.
Grayson Murray, two-time PGA Tour winner, dead at 30
Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial.
Humboldt Broncos crash victims and families react to decision to deport truck driver
The family of one of the victims of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in 2018 says they are 'thankful' for a decision by a Calgary immigration board to deport the driver of the truck involved.
Fatal plane crash reported near Squamish, B.C.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has confirmed it is working with local Mounties and the BC Coroners Service after a plane crash near Squamish, B.C. Friday night.
'God forgives but we don’t': Loud outburst from stabbing victim’s family during sentencing hearing
An emotional outburst in a London, Ont. courtroom Friday disrupted the sentencing hearing of a woman who pleaded guilty for her part in the death of 29-year-old Mohammed Abdallah.
Three dead after vehicle plunged down a 100-foot embankment in Shediac, N.B.
Three people have died after a vehicle veered off the road in Shediac N.B., Friday morning.
Appeal denied for Edmonton soldier accused of trying to kill her 3 children
An Edmonton woman found guilty of trying to kill her three children has been denied an appeal.